Organic Workflow Competitive Comparison

Ashlar-Vellum’s Organic Workflow™ is not so much a feature of our software, but an entire paradigm or philosophy upon which our entire work environment is based. It’s because we consider the designer’s environment as a whole that Ashlar-Vellum software is so much more productive for many product designers, particularly, non-linear thinkers who tend to think outside the box.

Ashlar-Vellum’s Organic Workflow proves that the vendor genuinely understands its customers, which are concept designers, product development process and challenges. This is evident in its holistic, transparent, comprehensive, and, above all, flexible solution.

In fact, one of the most important tenants of this concept is that a designer can enter the project at any point in the product development cycle and actively contribute.

Organic Workflow by it’s very nature:

Starts anywhere and goes anywhere.

Moves freely in any direction.

Sustains change while maintaining integrity.

Fosters illumination from within the ordinary.

To support an Organic Workflow, product design software must have these five features:

A Non-linear Workflow:This fosters flexibility, spontaneity and free-play within the software’s work environment.

Parametric History on Demand:Both a blessing and a curse, if a designer is free to use parametric history when needed, yet ignore it when it’s not, it greatly increases the creative process.

Transparent Tools:Product design software should disappear into the background, becoming an automatic extension of the designer as he or she concentrates on their project without thinking about how to run their software.

Holistic Tool Palette:This integrates engineering and design tools including wireframes, solids and surfaces into one interface without having to switch from one mode to another. Freely sketch, develop the model, create photo-renderings and precision engineering drawings all from the same program.

Continuous Cross-team Communication:Because product design is an organic process, different deliverables are required by different people all along the way. Any type of data must be able to be passed along to the team at any point in the process.

Ashlar-Vellum Cobalt™ uniquely supports these five requirements. On the following page you’ll see specifically where the other major players fall short in light of each one of these five features.

Competitive Comparison Chart

CompetitiveProduct

Non-linearWorkflow

ParametricHistoryon Demand

TransparentTools

HolisticTool Palette

ContinuousCross-teamCommunications

Ashlar-VellumCobalt

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

DassaultSolidWorks

No

Requires a linear workflow

Different modes for everything

No

History required at all times to make edits

No

Excruciatingly modal tools palettes

No

Everything is in different modules

Almost

However, it is very difficult to pass useable 2D data to 2D production processes

AutodeskInventor

No

Different modes for everything

No

All history required to make edits

No

Excruciatingly modal tools palettes

No

Everything is in different modules or programs

Yes

AutodeskAlias

No

No “true” solids

Impossible to verify volumes, center of gravity, etc.

No

No constraints / equations

Yes

No

No “true” solids

No

No “true” solids

No control of stereo-lithography exports across adjacent surfaces in a “solid”—this leads to the inability to print the 3D design

Limited direct data exchange

Alibrewith Momentof Inspiration(MoI)

No

No associativity

Not “true” solids

Many commands only work on one type of object and/or don’t have equivalent commands for the various types of objects

Difficult to verify dimensions

Impossible to verify volumes, center of gravity, etc.

Above functions are in other programs, which breaks the workflow, and it is impossible to flow data with history back and forth across these programs

No

History only one level deep

Only on some objects

No constraints / equations

Some

Very modal tools palettes

No

No rendering

No animation

No drafting

Above functions are in other programs, which breaks the workflow

No

Not “true” solids

No drafting

No rendering

No control of stereo-lithography exports across adjacent surfaces in a “solid”—this leads to the inability to print the 3D design

Limited direct data exchange

SpaceClaim

No

No associativity

No independent surfacing

No

Yes

No

No surfacing

Drafting is modal

No rendering

No animation

No

No rendering

KeyCreator

No

No associativity

No

Yes

No

No rendering

No animation

No

No rendering

Altair’sSolidThinking

No

No associativity

Not “true” solids

Impossible to verify volumes, center of gravity, etc.

No

No constraints / equations

Yes

No

No “true” solids

No

No “true” solids

No control of stereo-lithography exports across adjacent surfaces in a “solid”—this leads to the inability to print the 3D design